Isolation of Campylobacter spp. from Client‐Owned Dogs and Cats, and Retail Raw Meat Pet Food in the Manawatu, New Zealand

Abstract

Campylobacter causes acute gastroenteritis in people worldwide and is frequently isolated from food, animals and the environment. The disease is predominately food-borne but many routes of transmission and sources of infection have been described, including contact with pets. The prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in dogs and cats varies widely, and data on New Zealand pets are limited. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in dogs, cats and retail raw meat pet food products in New Zealand and to characterize Campylobacter jejuni isolates using multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Ninety dogs and 110 cats examined at the Massey University Veterinary Teaching Hospital for elective procedures, and fifty locally purchased retail raw meat pet diets were sampled. Two culture protocols combining Bolton broth enrichment and mCCDA and CAT agars in a microaerobic atmosphere at 42°C and 37°C with species identification using PCR were performed. The prevalence of Campylobacter spp., C. jejuni, Campylobacter upsaliensis and Campylobacter helveticus was 36%, 13%, 23% and 1% in dogs and 16%, 5%, 5% and 7% in cats, respectively. One dog had Campylobacter lari confirmed, and three dogs and one cat had multiple Campylobacter spp. detected. Significantly more animals tested positive using CAT than mCCDA agar (P < 0.001). Being neutered, vaccinated for Bordetella bronchiseptica, fed dry diets and brought in for neutering were protective factors for dogs, whereas attendance for dental treatment was a risk factor for cats. Campylobacter spp. were isolated from 28%, C. jejuni 22%, C. lari 6% and Campylobacter coli 6% of food samples. Six isolates positive by Campylobacter genus PCR were identified as Arcobacter butzleri. Poultry meat was more likely to be positive than non-poultry meat (P = 0.006). Of the 13 C. jejuni pet isolates with full MLST profiles, eight were of different sequence types (ST) and all nine food isolates were of different STs.

Raw diets for dogs and cats: a review, with particular reference to microbiological hazards

“…However, the sensitivity of the organism to drying, freezing and oxygen, plus relatively insensitive bacteriological detection methods, means that its apparent absence from prepared foods is perhaps not surprising. In contrast, Bojanic et al () isolated Campylobacter jejuni from 22% of raw retail pet foods in New Zealand. In the same study, univariable analysis showed an association between Campylobacter upsaliensis ‐positive rectal swabs and wet (but not specifically raw) feeding among both dogs and cats.…”

“…This, combined with the presence of certain pathogens or antimicrobial‐resistant bacteria (summarised in Table ), poses risks of colonisation and disease for owners and pets alike. It has been noted by researchers sampling raw pet foods from commercial outlets that package warnings about preparation and hygienic handling of these pet foods are commonly absent (Finley et al , Strohmeyer et al , Mehlenbacher et al , Bojanic et al , van Bree et al ) and that packaging may be defective and leaky (Bojanic et al ).…”

Prevalence of most common human pathogenicCampylobacterspp. in dogs and cats in Styria, Austria

“…2015; Bojanić et al . 2017). However, the isolation rates from faeces differ greatly depending on age, clinical signs, environment, concomitant diseases, infections with other enteropathogenic organisms, respective Campylobacter species, isolation method and design of the study (Torre & Tello 1993; Engvall et al .…”

Ciprofloxacin resistance among Campylobacter jejuni isolates obtained from shelter dogs in Texas

“…Clinical signs occur more commonly in puppies vs. adult dogs, and these may include diarrhoea, lethargy, anorexia, and occasionally fever and vomiting (Acke, 2018;Marks, Rankin, Byrne, & Weese, 2011). Dogs can also serve as reservoirs of additional species, mainly Campylobacter upsaliensis, Campylobacter helveticus, and Campylobacter lari (Bojanic et al, 2017;Giacomelli, Follador, Coppola, Martini, & Piccirillo, 2015;Holmberg, Rosendal, Engvall, Ohlson, & Lindberg, 2015). The prevalence of Campylobacter shedding in canines is variable, ranging from approximately 22%-43% for household pets (Acke et al, 2009;Leonard et al, 2011;Parsons et al, 2010;Procter et al, 2014) to 50%-73% for animals in shelters or kennels (Acke et al, 2006;Parsons et al, 2011).…”